Be Inspired!
RCN Bulletin Jobs Fair Manchester 2014
Career advice & inspiration for nurses
Jane Redfern Jones BN
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Life Long Learning Lifelong learning is a lifelong, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. It not only enhances social inclusion and personal development, but also competitiveness and employability.
Continuing Professional Development Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a lot like Life Long Learning except that it refers mainly to professional development, or ‘work-long learning.’ Continual Professional Development (CPD) can be defined as: “The conscious updating of professional knowledge and the improvement of professional competence throughout a person’s working life. It is a commitment to being professional, keeping up to date and continuously seeking to improve.” (The Chartered Institute of Professional Development 2000). Making professional development and lifelong learning part of one's life also fosters a sense of personal empowerment and increased selfesteem. Have you ever noticed how much more fulfilling it is to work with someone who is positive and keen to learn? In nursing the rapidly increasing rate of medical knowledge and technological change, make continual effort to remain up to date, and to keep learning, essential.
Post registration education and practice (PREP) The Prep CPD standard is for nurses and midwives. To meet it, you must undertake at least 35 hours of learning activity relevant to your practice every three years; maintain a personal professional profile of your learning activity, and comply with any requests to audit how you have met these requirements. When you think about it 35 hours over three years is nothing. Breaking it down it is 12 hours a year; 1 hour a month; 2 minutes a day. It’s doubtful anyone can have an excuse for not being able to do that. If you are serious about professional development you realistically need to be looking at a lot more hours. Don’t say, “But I don’t have time.” You do have time. You have to make time. You might have to get up an hour earlier in the morning, or miss your favourite television shows in the evening. You have to make time.
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You have the same amount of time in the day as everyone else; you just have to learn to manage it so that you can prioritise and get everything done. You are 100 % responsible for what happens in your career.
Get in with the IN Crowd Who you hang around with matters a lot. I used to do a lot of cross country running when I was younger. I got quite good in my teenage years and twenties. What I always found was that when I ran with people who were better than me, I always ran better. Similarly, whenever I ran with people who were not as good as me, I never ran my best. It’s a bit like that in your career. Forge relationships with people who will help you develop and grow. Don’t get stuck in a rut and spend too much time with people who will pull you down. If you spend time with people who are successful, perhaps doing a role you would like to do, then your chances of achieving the same increases dramatically.t in with the IN Crowd.
I think it was the late Jim Rohn that first said that you become a combination of the five people with whom you spend the most time. Make sure you’re spending time with the right people. People that inspire you, that motivate you, that fuel your ambition and drive, and from whom you can learn. Being around such people regularly can make a big difference to your level of success. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Look for a senior member of staff who works in the area that you want to work in and ask them for help. Ask for guidance on courses, if you can shadow them, for support in gaining experience in their area of work. You’ll usually find that they are very happy to help someone who shows initiative and enthusiasm. If you are keen to learn, and you are prepared to take the initiative, the opportunities are there. No one will ever care as much about your career as much as you. Don’t ever forget that. It’s your career. You are responsible. There’s a very big difference between people who actively work on building and planning their career, and those who just go with the flow, not having any direction.
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Set goals Bite-sized goals are good. If you have a bigger goal, break it down into smaller short-term chunks because then you are more likely to stay focused and single-minded on what needs doing. If you write down your goals you are more likely to achieve them, or even over-achieve them. The people who never write anything down, rarely achieve success. Bite-sized goals are things that can get done in one, two or three months; something that are almost touchable in terms of how close it is. Be specific and write your goals down. If there’s a position you are hoping to achieve in say three years’ time, try and get the person specification for that role and look for the areas where you lack the required skills. Then use this to work out your bite-sized goals to achieve each of the requirements, which will add up until eventually you are the perfect fit for the job. Be specific about what you want to achieve, and then implement it. Nobody ever became successful from having a lie in or watching TV. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to work hard. If you are passionate about what you want to achieve you have to put in the hours. All you need is a dream, a dedicated work ethic, and an alarm clock. If you want to get ahead get up an hour before everyone else.
Seek support The single biggest thing you can do to speed up the development of your career is to learn from someone who’s good and has done what you want to do. Make a firm commitment to learn and develop your own set of knowledge and skills. Replicate what you have learned that you know works. There’s a direct correlation between people’s commitment to finding and following a proven success strategy, and their eventual level of success. Pay attention to what you are doing and to the results you are producing. You have to be willing to ask yourself, your family, your friends, your colleagues, your managers and your mentors for feedback. “Is what I’m doing working? Could I be doing it better? Is there something more I should be doing that I am not? Is there something I am doing that I should stop doing? How do you see me limiting myself?” Don’t be afraid to ask. Most people are afraid to ask for feedback about
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how they are doing because they are afraid of what they are going to hear. But, you are better off knowing the truth because then you can do something about it. It’s hard to improve your performance without feedback, so slow down and pay attention. Adjust your goals if you need to, and then keep going. You don’t want to get to the top of the ladder only to find out you had it leaning up the wrong wall. To be successful, you need to take the position that you create or allow everything that happens to you. You directly cause something to happen by your actions or inactions. Sometimes we simply allow things to happen to us by our inaction and our unwillingness to do what is necessary to create or maintain what we want.
You didn’t go on the course you had the opportunity to go on with your colleagues, and now they’ve been promoted and you haven’t. You didn’t want to give up your time in the evening watching television like your colleague did and now he’s earning more than you. You spent all your money on going out with your friends and then couldn’t afford your subscription to Nursing Standard. Now all your colleagues are up to date with the latest news and you’re getting it all second hand…
You are not the “victim” here. You stood passively by and let it happen. You didn’t say anything, make a demand, make a request, say no or leave. Nothing ever just “happens” to you. If you want to be successful, take steps to create your desired outcomes. Successful people don’t wait for things to go wrong, and then blame something or someone else for their problems. They do something about it. They give up an hour’s television at night to fit in the time for that course; they write a plan of action so that they know how to reach their goals, they keep their portfolio up to date. They replace negative self-talk such as “I feel like a victim; nothing ever seems to work out for me” With positive words such as “I feel great; I am in control; I can make things happen.”
You are in control
You are the one who is making your life and career the way they are. The career you currently have is the result of your past thoughts and actions. You are in charge of your current thoughts and your present
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feelings. You are in charge of what you say and do. You are in charge of what goes into your mind – the books and magazines you read, the television you watch, the people with whom you spend time. Every action is under your control. If you want to achieve more in your career, or get a promotion, it’s not up to your manager to come to you to suggest courses or opportunities; it’s up to you to look for them. It’s up to you to take action. If you want to be successful, all you have to do is act in ways that produce more of what you want. It’s simple! But, OK, it’s simple. But, it might not be easy. It requires concentrated awareness, dedicated discipline, and a willingness to experiment and take risks. The better your CPD record, the more powerful your position will be when seeking career development, either in your current setting or another setting. A good CPD record does not mean a long, exhaustive list of courses attended. It should show a range of CPD activities that have enabled you to improve as a nurse, show that you are motivated and working toward a goal, and give evidence of you contributing more effectively in your workplace. You can demonstrate that you have your own unique skills and professional interests but also that you are also part of a wider professional team. Any CPD activity should lead you to reflect on and improve or develop current practice. Making a plan for what you want to get out of the activity is an essential part of the process. Again, nobody will do this for you: it is up to you to be self-evaluative. Involving your colleagues and the wider team is also an important factor in ensuring the impact of CPD activities, as you may find it hard to implement new strategies or approaches on your own. Talk to your mentor or line manager especially, and make time to discuss what you are learning. Take action. Clear planning of follow-up actions can ensure that the more challenging changes are made as well as the easy ones. By evaluating your own needs and development, and allowing your colleagues to be critical friends, you will get the most out of your CPD
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activities and ensure that training becomes part of your on-going career development and not just isolated episodes of interesting reflection.
Be Professional Being professional means more than just having a qualification. As nurses we are considered to be professionals; however there is a big difference between someone who is in a professional position and someone who acts professionally. We have all seen so-called professional people acting unprofessionally, and we have all met people who work in jobs classed as non-professional who act with professionalism. Acting like a professional means doing what it takes to make others think of you as reliable, respectful, and competent. A true professional works hard and treats everyone as if they are important. We all know nurses for whom nursing is ‘just a job.’ They work with an air of boredom, resentment even, because they would rather be anywhere but work. Others treat their jobs with respect. They may secretly be wishing they were home with their family, but they try their best not to show it. Instead, they work hard and treat everyone – patients, students, colleagues, cleaners – as if he or she is important. And it often pays off. A true professional goes to work feeling energised by the passion to excel, no matter what their position. They know that by providing excellence in a world where excellence is rare they have far more chance of being noticed by the right people. Influential people know that the pursuit of excellence is transferrable, and if they see you striving for it in one capacity, they know you’ll do it in another. So whether you’re currently nursing in your ideal job, or you’re a student not yet sure where you’re heading, start striving for professional excellence right now.
More ways of Achieving CPD There are the usual ways to achieve CPD such as courses, reflective practice, shadowing etc. But look at some more unusual ways: voluntary work; getting involved with a local health project; producing patient information leaflets; writing an article for publication for example. You
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may be able to ask your local community council for funding, or help applying for a grant.
Your Portfolio You are required to keep a CPD portfolio as part of your PREP requirements. A portfolio serves as a record of your clinical experience and journey from novice practitioner to expert. It must show that you recognise your learning needs and any gaps that exist in your knowledge and skills - what you need to know or do to enhance your practice? What are your professional development needs? It also helps in an interview: those who have developed a portfolio will be in a better position to articulate their thoughts and feelings about practice and give detailed examples of how they have made a difference.
Creating a professional portfolio A good portfolio can separate you from other qualified candidates in an interview. To set yourself apart from the crowd, start, keep, and maintain a professional portfolio as a record of your career accomplishments. Start building your portfolio now, even if you're just launching your nursing career. Get serious. Don't keep your professional record in a frilly or flowered binder. Remember, it represents you as a professional, so keep it simple and conservative. Here are some examples of what you should include in your professional portfolio: Basic biographical information. Include your name, address, contact information, and Pin number for quick reference. At least one copy of your curriculum vitae (CV). Membership materials from professional organisations you belong to, such as the RCN. Records of formal presentations Any continuing-education credits you've earned from classes, journal articles, conference attendance, and other sources. This is evidence of your commitment to furthering your own education and keeping current in your field. Reflective accounts
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Evidence-based literature Evidence of key skills development (communication, improving own learning).
This list is not exhaustive, and you can present evidence in a variety of different formats, drawn from your experiences both within practice and/ or your School of Nursing. The best part about your portfolio is that the content will change as you grow in your career. Make sure to review and update it regularly. In the future, perhaps you'll be adding awards or journal articles. Throughout your professional journey, your professional record is an enduring, singular, and portable synopsis of your career.
Revalidation The new revalidation process starts December 31 2015 and anyone re-registering on or after that date will have to comply with the new system. Revalidation is the new process by which registered nurses and midwives will regularly be required to demonstrate to the NMC that they remain fit to practise and competent for the role in which they are working. Anyone deemed not up to the required standard faces being barred from working under the plans currently being drawn up. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) also want to see patients, colleagues, and employers give feedback on performance. Every nurse on the register will be revalidated every three years when their renewal is due. If you don’t revalidate, you will lapse from the register. If you wish to revalidate, you will be required continually to gather evidence for your revalidation based on criteria in the revised Code, standards and guidance. It is hoped that revalidation will raise standards of care and promote a culture of continuous improvement amongst nurses and midwives. The aim is for the revised Code and standards to be launched at the end of 2014 and for revalidation to be introduced by the end of 2015. Every nurse and midwife will be required to confirm that they: Continue to remain fit for practise. Have met the requirements for practice and continuing professional development.
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Have sought and received third party feedback which has informed their reflection on their practice. This feedback could be from patients, carers, students (for educators) or peers. Have sought and received third party confirmation that they are fit to practise. A third party (usually a manager or another registrant) will need to confirm that the nurse or midwife is adhering to the Code and standards, and is fit to practise.
Get your colleague and patient feedback surveys done Plan ahead, it will take a while for colleagues to respond and patient survey results to be collated. Show you have done some quality improvement Think back over your work experience and mine for gold nuggets of achievement. Did you serve on a clinical improvement committee or think of a way for the hospital to make an improvement? Did you mentor other nurses or nursing assistants or lead a staff development session? Include anything that demonstrates your initiative and leadership skills. Did you attend a study day and, as a result, implement a new idea or way of working into your workplace? Every little bit counts. Visit www.revalidation.zone for support with how to comply with the new NMC guidelines. Register for the free e-alerts.
Persistence Many people fail to achieve their ambitions because they lack persistence; they lack the courage to keep on keeping on. Persistence is a state of mind. How do you cultivate persistence? Know what you want. A strong motive will help you overcome obstacles in your way. Self-belief. Believing in yourself, knowing that you can achieve your ambitions, helps to keep you going. Being organised. Make a plan and stick to it. Knowledge. Knowledge is Power. If you know your plans are sound you will have more confidence. Co-operation. Developing harmonious and advantageous relationships with others tend to develop persistence. Will power. Concentrate your thoughts on what you want to achieve.
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Habit. Persistence is the direct result of habit. The mind absorbs and becomes a part of the daily experiences upon which it feeds.
What are the enemies of success? Failure to plan and define exactly what you want to achieve. Procrastination. Too many alibis and excuses. Lack of interest in gaining specialised knowledge. Indecision. Changing your mind too often. Indifference. Being too ready to compromise instead of fighting for what you want. Blaming other people for your shortcomings. Accepting second best and seeing it as unavoidable. Lack of motivation usually due to not planning and identifying key goals effectively. Quitting at the first sign of defeat. Lack of organised plans written down so that they can regularly be studied. Not being open to new ideas or seeing opportunities when they present themselves. Wishing instead of willing. Looking for shortcuts instead of doing the work required. Fear of criticism that stops you putting your plans into action because of what other people will think.
Do what you want The majority of people allow friends, relatives, and colleagues, influence them and deflate their confidence and ambition because they fear criticism. Just because they can’t achieve it doesn’t mean you can’t. Don’t let anyone destroy your ambition and desire to achieve. Too many people refuse to set high goals for themselves, or even neglect to plan because they fear the criticism of relatives and “friends” who think they shouldn’t aim so high. Many years ago when I trained in ju-jitsu my sensei always used to say “Jane, there is no such word as can’t.” You can do anything you set your mind to. As soon as you say the word “can’t” then you won’t be able to do it. Now I always tell my daughters that ‘can’t is not a word in their vocabulary. If someone else can do something why can’t you?
Useful Resources www.nursingstandard.rcnpublishing.co.uk/learning-zone www.rcn.org.uk/development/learning/learningzone www.revalidation.zone www.open.ac.uk www.openuniversity.co.uk/rcn www.open.edu/openlearn www.bsygroup.co.uk http://tinyurl.com/bmjcpd (BMJ Learning)
Recommended book: Writing your nursing portfolio by Fiona Timmins and Anita Duffy. ISBN: 0335242847.
“I think one's feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions, and into actions which bring results.” ~ Florence Nightingale. Jane’s new book Be Inspired! Career Advice & Inspiration for Nurses will be available on Kindle 1st August. To sign up for updates and career tips visit www.yournursingcareer.co.uk. Jane Redfern Jones is a writer and nurse who has had numerous articles published in journals, magazines and newspapers. She specialises in writing about nursing and the NHS and writes regularly for Nursing Standard.
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